first shock | video

[electrostatics]

Who: anyone who wants to watch this loser build some terrible construction out of dubious food material
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Caprine
When: September 20, evening

[ What's this? The camera shows the view of the table in the galley.

Someone offscreen is painstakingly constructing....something on a plate, cutting up solids to serve as the construction material. They don't appear to care what flavour it is, only that it's being carefully chopped into bricks and co-opted for the noble purposes of construction.

Occasionally there's movement from the edge of the screen, footsteps to and from the table, and the sound of the protein machine dispensing more of randomly-chosen foodstuff. Gel is carefully layered onto the small, solid 'bricks' of food to create a kind of mortar, and sticks of solid are pressed into service and shaped to provide appropriate support.

It holds solidly together, enough that whatever this person is building is taking shape quite quickly. It appears to be, when it's done...

Some kind of pixel imitation of a spaceship. Thrusters, fins, and all.

They sit back, turning the camera towards them, to reveal someone who doesn't look very human. The camera passes by an untouched plate of dessert cream. ]

I think I used every flavour to make this.[ He motions to the spaceship model on the plate. ] Go ahead and eat it if you want.

[ He sounds bored. After a moment, he stands, picks up the communicator and turns it off. ]

Comments

[electrostatics]

[ He just shrugs, making his way over but still keeping a distance from this person. His personal space bubble extends quite far. ] It's decent for a first try, not knowing the limits and properties of the materials.

[ He glances over at it for a moment, arms crossed. ] It'll stay up, anyway.

I'm Elecman. You are? [ He's able to be polite in a 'blunt object' kind of way if he hasn't been aggravated recently, at least. ]

[deshabille]

For now, until someone tries to eat it or bumps into the table.

[There's a lot of roughhousing on the Caprine, okay. It could easily happen.]

Mal. I'm the captain. And you're . . . [She cocks her head to the side, listening.] You sound like the engine. I like it.

[electrostatics]

It's made out of food. If it stays there for a long time intact, I'll be surprised.

Captain Mal. [ He's in a strange place on a strange ship, in space, without anyone he knows (technically) and without the person he's bonded to the most. In the midst of strangeness, he falls back on formality.

He raises his arm, then lowers it again; things feel so clunky and heavy. The whirr and whine of the rotors and various other parts that make it possible for him to operate this strange new body are barely audible to him. ]

I guess. I'm an engineer, so it fits, anyway. [ Mechanical being servicing mechanical objects. So it goes. ]

[deshabille]

[The formality suits her just fine. She's used to being addressed by her full title, even if it's usually Corporal and not Captain. So she just nods a greeting, still listening - to the rotors and to the cadence of his voice, both at once.]

Really? I'm an engineer, too. I wonder if they thought I wasn't good enough.

[But there's rich good humor in her tone, along with a little arrogance. She's a great engineer, thanks, and mostly just excited to have somebody to chatter excitedly to about gears.]

[electrostatics]

Two heads are better than one. [ It's just practical. ] Besides. [ He flicks his fingers together, creating a sudden spark of electricity. There's a bit of pride in his tone, weak though it is. ] I can do some things without tools, and I can store any information needed as it comes. My memory has no errors.

I heard some of the ships got damaged recently. You've gone over everything here already? [ Down to business, now. He has a clear task ahead of him; it's the best thing that could have been done in these circumstances. ]

[deshabille]

[Oooooh. Now that's interesting. She lights up immediately, both at the spark and at his tone. She generally likes prideful people, generally. They remind her of herself.]

You'll have to show me absolutely everything as soon as possible. [Give her all the new things, give them to her. As to the damage--]

We have, yes, but there's no harm in a fresh set of eyes going over everything.

[electrostatics]

[ Elecman is making friends (?) already! Which is surprising, considering his prickly personality. He'll be happy to show off at least some of his abilities, too. He likes to demonstrate what he can do competently. ]

Electricity generation is well within my capabilities. [ Watered down, yes (he'd tested it already...because of course he had), but he's got enough of a spark to make it count.

Also, you might have guessed his motif considering all the lightning bolts everywhere. He nods curtly at Mal's next phrase - sensible. ]

I can see whether I can do anything else for them, at least. Lead the way.

[deshabille]

[Well, it pays to advertise, doesn't it. She grins, sort of toothily, and nods.]

There's no electricity back home, you know. It's a backwards sort of place. So coming somewhere that people can make it on their own, that's damned exciting.

All right, come on. [She turns towards the engine room, with the air of someone so used to being followed they won't even bother turning to check that he's coming.]

[electrostatics]

[ That's odd to think about. He's a product of things run by electricity, after all. But, well, this ship must pull from all kinds of places, right? ]

Guess being able to make it independently is what happens when technology gets advanced enough. At least in my case, it does.

[ He's quick to follow, falling in behind. Though he doesn't usually like to be led, there's no point blundering around in a place he's unfamiliar with when a ready source of information is right here. ] What kind of damage did you have to deal with in this last attack the most? [ He's already taking stock of how things might be improved - he'll need to check the outside of the ship later, but that can come later. ]

[deshabille]

Hmm. It was mostly to the communications systems, oddly enough - and the engines, of course.

[It's not far, a few doors down, smaller than you might expect, and clean in a dirty way - that is, everything is well-organized but cheerfully greasy, since Mal has no intention of pretending it's anything other than a workspace. She enters like she's coming home, runs her fingers over the exposed mechanisms lovingly.]

Engines were easier to deal with than communications.

[electrostatics]

Comms systems, huh. [ He turns that over in his mind. ] What kind of damage was it? Direct physical attack? Electronic?

[ He has to smile when he walks in - this is a good place to be. Comfortable, even, in a weird way. He's not physically acquainted with grease and grime, but it feels like his operator's various workspaces.

It's a good start. ]

I figure that's the case. Communications can get fiddly.

[deshabille]

Electronic. At least as far as I could tell; that's what the damage looked like, that's what it felt like when it happened.

[She tucks a wrench in her back pocket, leans back against the wall, looks at him with a small smile.]

You have experience with comms?

[electrostatics]

Yeah, I've got some experience with them. [ He used to mess around in them sometimes, so he knows more than most despite not being a communications navi spec. ] If it's electronic attacks...I can try modifying the systems so they'll bear something that'll knock them out easier. And with the delicate equipment, if you have any backups, I can make something for them that will protect them from electrical pulses.

[ His operator's obsession with electrical experimentation has proven to be very useful here, at least. And in his world, they're very careful indeed with proofing things against anything that could knock out a large amount of delicate electronics from outside. ]